Building a 383 help

Having "...a lot of horsepower..." and "...low end torque for acceleration..." out of a 383 is gonna be a pretty tall order to beat a 454 with 550+ hp unless his is a dog or has zero traction...and it won't be cheap if you build it right. You can make a 383 put down enough power to walk away from a run of the mill BB Chevelle, but it's going to involve good heads, proper blueprinting, and very wise parts choice-if you want it to be powerful and reliable, and you'll have to be able to put it to the ground effectively, which is going to demand you divert some funds to chassis and suspension setup.

You never really mentioned what all's in the Chevelle for times or setup either...